R
raylopez99
I have not been able to get a straight answer to this, despite almost
a year of trying.
Maybe three's the charm?
Here goes again...
I have an old machine, not my main machine, nearly in mothballs that
somebody uses on occasion to surf the net and print a letter on a
recent model HP inkjet using OpenOffice as the word processor
program. The machine is running on Windows 2000. The machine is an
Intel Pentium II, about 200 MHz clock, with about 500 MB RAM (or maybe
it's 225, I upgraded it but forgot what it was, but I'm pretty sure
it's 512 MB). The C: hard drive is only 2 GB large--the only one for
the OS. This was a popular configuration in the mid to late 90s so
I'm sure a lot of these machines exist in the world, so somebody must
have loaded Linux on one of them.
The machine has no DVD, only a CD reader. It has a late 90s but
popular video card, forget the brand.
What Linux distro to use for this configuration? I can, using another
PC, download a distro, but then I would have to burn it onto a CD or
CDs, so I would rather not do that--that is, I would rather get or buy
a Linux distro that is already burnt, in proper order, onto labeled
CDs to make installation easier.
In case you're wondering why I want to switch to Linux: though the NT
system is functional, it's slow, and rumor has it that Linux is 'virus
free' (or nearly so) and faster. Presumeably since Linux is virus-
free I would not need antivirus (AV) software. Is this true?
Eliminating AV software would free up RAM. Again, this system is not
for a power user. I myself am a power user, would never think of
switching to Linux. But for this lightweight user, perhaps Linux
might work for them.
Any ideas welcome. Be advised that I also needle the posters at
comp.os.linux.advocacy, but this is not a flame. I really have not
been able to get a straight answer on this issue.
Some common mistakes made by respondants: they recommend their
favorite distro without checking the min system requirements; they
recommend something they've never tried (Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, and Damn
Small Linux seem to be a favorites--but I need somebody who is very
familiar with a distro before I install it and find out it won't work
on this archaic system); and they assume that I have fast internet
access on this machine. Also, some spiteful types from
comp.os.linux.advocacy (avoid this group like the plague unless you
simply enjoy flaming for its own sake) recommend distros that, when I
research them, find they won't work on this machine specified above,
so, please cite your choice with a link if possible.
Thanks for your attention.
RL
a year of trying.
Maybe three's the charm?
Here goes again...
I have an old machine, not my main machine, nearly in mothballs that
somebody uses on occasion to surf the net and print a letter on a
recent model HP inkjet using OpenOffice as the word processor
program. The machine is running on Windows 2000. The machine is an
Intel Pentium II, about 200 MHz clock, with about 500 MB RAM (or maybe
it's 225, I upgraded it but forgot what it was, but I'm pretty sure
it's 512 MB). The C: hard drive is only 2 GB large--the only one for
the OS. This was a popular configuration in the mid to late 90s so
I'm sure a lot of these machines exist in the world, so somebody must
have loaded Linux on one of them.
The machine has no DVD, only a CD reader. It has a late 90s but
popular video card, forget the brand.
What Linux distro to use for this configuration? I can, using another
PC, download a distro, but then I would have to burn it onto a CD or
CDs, so I would rather not do that--that is, I would rather get or buy
a Linux distro that is already burnt, in proper order, onto labeled
CDs to make installation easier.
In case you're wondering why I want to switch to Linux: though the NT
system is functional, it's slow, and rumor has it that Linux is 'virus
free' (or nearly so) and faster. Presumeably since Linux is virus-
free I would not need antivirus (AV) software. Is this true?
Eliminating AV software would free up RAM. Again, this system is not
for a power user. I myself am a power user, would never think of
switching to Linux. But for this lightweight user, perhaps Linux
might work for them.
Any ideas welcome. Be advised that I also needle the posters at
comp.os.linux.advocacy, but this is not a flame. I really have not
been able to get a straight answer on this issue.
Some common mistakes made by respondants: they recommend their
favorite distro without checking the min system requirements; they
recommend something they've never tried (Puppy Linux, Ubuntu, and Damn
Small Linux seem to be a favorites--but I need somebody who is very
familiar with a distro before I install it and find out it won't work
on this archaic system); and they assume that I have fast internet
access on this machine. Also, some spiteful types from
comp.os.linux.advocacy (avoid this group like the plague unless you
simply enjoy flaming for its own sake) recommend distros that, when I
research them, find they won't work on this machine specified above,
so, please cite your choice with a link if possible.
Thanks for your attention.
RL